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3 Years Later

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Dick asked Wally as he scribbled down some notes he didn't really understand. Wally was staying with them for a week that summer. Barry and Iris had gone out for a few hours, leaving Dick and Wally home alone, which allowed them the chance to do Wally's experiment in the basement.

"Of course it's a good idea" Wally said. "Don't you want to be a superhero like Uncle Barry?"

Wally had just found out that his uncle was also his favorite superhero, and he was ecstatic. Dick had actually known for quite some time now, but Barry had given him a huge lecture on the importance of keeping it a secret and wouldn't even let him tell his cousin.

"Yeah, but this is dangerous. We could be superheroes without powers, like Batman. "

Wally made a face. "Batman? He's cool and everything, but he's scary. I wouldn't want to actually be him. I would much rather be like Flash."

"I'm serious Wally, you shouldn't do this! You could get hurt" Dick exclaimed. Wally rolled his eyes and poured a chemical into a different vial and set it down. "I'm serious, if you don't stop I'll call Barry! Also you aren't supposed to mix the sodium tetrafloride with the lithium monoxide until after you distill the carbon hexasulfide."

Wally looked at what he was doing, flipped back a few pages and checked the notes. "Nice catch. Thanks."

"Aren't you listening to what I'm saying?"

"I'm listening, but I don't particularly care." Wally shot back.

"Fine then. I'm going to call him." Dick said as he started to walk towards the stairs. "I'll do it, I swear!" Wally made a sound of indifference and kept working. He seemed to be almost done.

Dick ran up the stairs and picked up the phone. He punched in Barry's number and listened to it ring. Finally, the man on the other end picked up.

"Hello?"

"Barry! I need your help!"

"Dick? What's wrong?"

"It's Wally! He's trying to do the experiment to give himself superspeed. I'm scared he'll hurt himself"

"I'll be right over there, okay Dick?"

Dick's adoptive father hung up the phone. Dick wasn't quite sure what to do after that. Fortunately, that decision was made for him when an explosion echoed up from the basement. He rushed down there to find the room filled with smoke to the point that he could barely see Wally lying on the floor, with his hair and clothes singed. Dick took a deep breath then plunged into the smoke, eyes watering and lungs throbbing. He grabbed Wally and managed to drag him to the stairs.

"Dick? Wally?" Barry was home. He must have run the whole way to get here that fast.

"Down here!" Dick called out.

Barry was down there in under a second. He grabbed Wally and helped Dick up the stairs. Barry set Wally down and dialed 911. He then turned to Dick and asked him what happened.

"He was downstairs and he found your notes on the experiment. He wanted to try it. I told him it was a bad idea, but he did it anyway. I tried to talk out of it, but he was dead-set on being a superhero. That was when I called you."

Barry took this in and looked down. He dialed a number into the phone. "Rudy? Something happened to Wally."

Dick could hear Rudy through the phone when Barry said what happened. There was a string of words Dick was fairly certain he wasn't supposed to hear, along with a lot of accusations about "goddam spandex obsessed superheroes". Barry didn't say anything back. He just nodded his head and looked guilty.

After Barry hung up and the paramedics arrived to take care of Wally, Dick turned to the man he had idolized for three years, who had saved him from the darkness that had engulfed him since his parent's death.

"Will he be okay? Dick asked.

"I don't know, Dick. I hope so."